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Reconnection in the magnetotail

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Abstract

The ion tearing mode is considered as the only mechanism capable of initiating reconnection processes in the equilibrium plasma sheet whose scale considerably exceeds the ion Larmor radius. The paper gives a brief review of linear theory of the tearing mode instability that allows the onset of its development to be determined. It is shown that the explosive growth of the tearing mode in a nonlinear stage is consistent with the dynamics of charged particle acceleration and the behaviour of the magnetic field variations and plasma flow in the magnetotail. The tail structure formed, as a result of the development of the tearing mode, is also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Space Research Institute, Moscow, U.S.S.R.

    A. A. Galeev

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  1. A. A. Galeev
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Proceedings of the Symposium on Solar Terrestrial Physics held in Innsbruck, May–June 1978.

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Galeev, A.A. Reconnection in the magnetotail. Space Sci Rev 23, 411–425 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172248

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